Catfish Haul 20120526

[wcbond4]

For being a holiday weekend ...not a decent haul for one night.

Lost a few. One was big enough to straighten a hook.

Used liver flavored powerbait chunks. They seemed to work really well.

 

[shamoo]

Good job wc

 

[Dragonman]

Nice cats, We caught a total of 6 over the weekend, 1 got out of the basket, so that left 5.

 

[wcbond4]

Thanks!

I hate when they get away! We went Sunday night and caught three more. None were really picture worthy though. Oh and we caught a baby on a 000 hook! it was about 4 inches long!

 

[cornbread]

Good eaten.

The other white meat.

Next to BBQ there is nothing like Cat fish for this Alabama boy.

 

[aeviaanah]

Ive tried catfishing a few times, never have any luck. I used shad both times. Any tips?

 

[Driftingrz]

Ive tried catfishing a few times, never have any luck. I used shad both times. Any tips?

did you use fresh shad or prepackaged shad? if you used the packaged stuff like they sell at walmart that would be the issue... im not familiar with your area so it depends on what catfish you have in your area.. easiest to catch would be bullheads or Channels which are often caught on night crawlers and Chicken Livers... i also catch a bunch on cut Bluegill and sunfish.. you cant use them for bait everywhere so youd have to check into that.

 

[Driftingrz]

Ive tried catfishing a few times, never have any luck. I used shad both times. Any tips?

did you use fresh shad or prepackaged shad? if you used the packaged stuff like they sell at walmart that would be the issue... im not familiar with your area so it depends on what catfish you have in your area.. easiest to catch would be bullheads or Channels which are often caught on night crawlers and Chicken Livers... i also catch a bunch on cut Bluegill and sunfish.. you cant use them for bait everywhere so youd have to check into that.

and to the OP.. what Electric knife is that in the picture? im looking to get one to help with cleaning cats and other fish.. cant decide on which one to get.. but leaning towards one of the 110v models

 

[wcbond4]

Ive tried catfishing a few times, never have any luck. I used shad both times. Any tips?

did you use fresh shad or prepackaged shad? if you used the packaged stuff like they sell at walmart that would be the issue... im not familiar with your area so it depends on what catfish you have in your area.. easiest to catch would be bullheads or Channels which are often caught on night crawlers and Chicken Livers... i also catch a bunch on cut Bluegill and sunfish.. you cant use them for bait everywhere so youd have to check into that.

and to the OP.. what Electric knife is that in the picture? im looking to get one to help with cleaning cats and other fish.. cant decide on which one to get.. but leaning towards one of the 110v models

Its a Berkly knife. I wouldn't recommend it. Its a 110 model but it also has battery terminal connections. Its convenient..but doesn't perform like I would hoped. The sad thing is it was supposed to be a pretty good one.


aeviaanah:

I don't know about shad..but we used the liver flavored PowerBait that they sell at WalMart. I've also had great luck with chicken livers...they work on all cats it seems. We caught blues and channels though. I stick to the power bait for the ease of use. No blood in the boat...stays on the hooks etc. Oh I also dip my PB in Docs sometimes. They seem to tear that up too.

 

[aeviaanah]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I tried again last night, I went fishing for bass till sunset. Then I set up over a 25ft hole (River is 10-15ft average where I go) for catfish. I sat there with anchor down for an hour and a half... I rigged up the fake chicken liver putty stuff on 4/0 hooks in sacs. I also used a catfish dip, homemade fish emulsion and even hotdogs. Didn't even get a bite, I'm not giving up tho. I have plans tomorrow for some night fishing. I guess ill go buy some chicken livers. I think i need 6/0 hooks and some real chicken liver. What are the best times and locations when fishing for cats? Open reel? Rigs?

 

[Driftingrz]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I tried again last night, I went fishing for bass till sunset. Then I set up over a 25ft hole (River is 10-15ft average where I go) for catfish. I sat there with anchor down for an hour and a half... I rigged up the fake chicken liver putty stuff on 4/0 hooks in sacs. I also used a catfish dip, homemade fish emulsion and even hotdogs. Didn't even get a bite, I'm not giving up tho. I have plans tomorrow for some night fishing. I guess ill go buy some chicken livers. I think i need 6/0 hooks and some real chicken liver. What are the best times and locations when fishing for cats? Open reel? Rigs?

fishing with real livers gets messy... but ive never gone without atleast a bite or getting my bait stolen... it can be a pain to hook them and keep them on the hook.. but everybody has there own method.. simplest is jsut wrapping sewing thread around the liver and hook and itll hold on.. but it ends up a mess when trying to remove thread from hook later on. some use pantyhose i hate em.. the best method ive seen but have yet to try is using Surgilast. i havent seen any sold locally and im to lazy to order them but ill link up a video.. Perfect option for catching Channel cats.

doesnt matter what type of reel aslong as line is strong enough to handle a good fighting fish. i fish with circle hooks so i dont leave too much slack in line and wait till the fish takes the bait and hooks himself before i touch rod... i just rig up with a 2oz bank sinker above a swivel with a leader to my hook

[youtube]KaOX9j6JGlA&feature=plcp[/youtube]

 

[chattahoochee]

What is the water temp where you are?

Depending on water temp, I think you need to go shallower.

Try 5-6 feet in pockets with stucture (submerged trees etc.) near deeper water.

Fresh cut bluegill (or whatever is legal in your area) floated a foot or so off the bottom, use a bobber stop if necessary.

If using liver, try to find "rooster" liver. Very tough stuff.

Good luck.

 

[Recon]

I live in PA along the upper Susquehanna River and we have some great fishing for channel cats. After last years big floods we were advised not to eat ANY fish from the river this year. Some really nasty stuff is still washing into the river with each rain. Catch and release is the name of the game this year.

 

[Wallijig]

Congrats!
Tuesday evening I was out casting jigs with impluse paddle tails for walleyes and to my surprise landed in area of catfish. ended up with 6 of these 27"to 31".
released them all to play again another day.

 

[JMichael]

Its a Berkly knife. I wouldn't recommend it. Its a 110 model but it also has battery terminal connections. Its convenient..but doesn't perform like I would hoped. The sad thing is it was supposed to be a pretty good one.


aeviaanah:

I don't know about shad..but we used the liver flavored PowerBait that they sell at WalMart. I've also had great luck with chicken livers...they work on all cats it seems. We caught blues and channels though. I stick to the power bait for the ease of use. No blood in the boat...stays on the hooks etc. Oh I also dip my PB in Docs sometimes. They seem to tear that up too.

My brother got the 12v/120v berkly knife. The problems I had with it were the blade release button kept getting accidentally pressed and the blades popping out during use. It also got hot and we'd have to wait for it to cool down to continue cleaning. The knife was actually a 12v but it came with a step down transformer so you could plug that into the 120v house outlet and it provided the 12v for the knife to run on.

I bought the Rapala 120v knife this spring and have been very pleased with it so far. The only complaints I had with it was that it only came with a 6" blade so I had to buy the 7.5" blade separately. Much nicer with the longer blade I think.

As for the catfish bait debate, almost everyone around here uses Docs stink bait with the Docs worms or the sponge hooks soaked in Docs. One thing about using Docs over other baits, if you get a bite, you know it's a catfish and not some carp, drum, or other trash fish eating your bait. When I go out on the river after catfish, I try to drop anchor just upstream of an old drift/snag. Then I cast my line and feed out slack until my hook is resting under the drift. Another favorite location is to find where a small stream/ditch is dumping into the river and drop my hook right where the 2 meet.

 

[wcbond4]

Walljig...

Nice cats! We went fishing again this weekend and only ended up with six. To my great surprise though, one of the ones that broke my line last weekend we ended up catching again! He still had the hook in his mouth and my line and swivel!! I was shocked.


JMichael,

Did you get the Rapalas knife from walmart? I looked at it but it seemed to be exactly like the Berkleys that they had. That Berkley knife you're describing is exactly the one I've got.

 

[JMichael]

Walljig...

Nice cats! We went fishing again this weekend and only ended up with six. To my great surprise though, one of the ones that broke my line last weekend we ended up catching again! He still had the hook in his mouth and my line and swivel!! I was shocked.


JMichael,

Did you get the Rapalas knife from walmart? I looked at it but it seemed to be exactly like the Berkleys that they had. That Berkley knife you're describing is exactly the one I've got.

Yes I got it from wallyworld.